Guatemala, June 5, 2012

Day one in the Center drew to a close far too quickly. As soon as we all finished our daily projects, we had only about an hour to spend with the kids, and all of a sudden it was 4:25 and time to say “hasta mañana.”

In that one hour, however, those of us who are working in the Canary room (Babies) got to meet Mary. Mary was admitted to the Center yesterday. She is 2 years old and weighs 16 pounds. She has oral thrush, which is making her transition harder because she’s unable to eat anything without pain. She can’t hold her head up very well, and when Jessy and I bathed and dressed her this morning, we could feel every bone in her body. We pulled Tripp in from the older kids to sit with her, since we had 19 other babies to care for, and she needs one-on-one for a little while. He was so wonderful! He just sat on the floor with her in his lap, told her she was ok and that everything was alright, and got her to sleep. He sat in the same spot for three hours. Tripp, you are a phenomenal young man.

So often we see the smiling, chunky babies at the Center on this blog, Facebook, and the FBCH website, but every child that comes here is like Mary: under nourished, developmentally behind, and scared. She is being watched closely by the nurses and doctor and will soon be another smiling, chunky baby. I pray that day comes fast, and I ask that you join me in that prayer for each of these precious children.

Day two is pretty much a repeat of day one, minus the tour. The kids are more comfortable with us and us with them. We now know all the names of the kids in our class as well as their personalities. We know which ones are mischievous and which just want to be near us. We know their routine and where the supplies are. Overall, there’s a lot less thinking and asking questions and a lot more play and loving.

We had a pretty loud thunder storm today. Loud enough to make the adults jump, though it didn’t seem to faze the babies. Unfortunately, the power has been knocked out, meaning the water pump can’t work, so we are currently without running water. (Yea for hand sanitizer!) The guys are once again doing yard work and some of the ladies are cleaning as well as then can by pouring water from the five gallon bottles for the water fountains over the dishes and toys.

Please continue to keep us all (team, staff, and especially children) in your prayers. I wish I could write more but the babies are starting to wake up, so the baby-wranglers are off to change diapers and play some more.